BEFORE the 1952 Revolution, establishing a labour union required nothing more than informing the administrative authorities of its existence. If the authorities objected, they had to go to court. Nowadays, with political activists sneaking into trade and professional unions and controlling them, farmers, translators, media people and others find it very difficult to establish unions. What they can try and do is to establish union caring for their rights. For example, the head of the Religious Committee at the People's Assembly (the Lower House of the Egyptian Parliament), Ahmed Omar Hashim, has submitted a draft bill for setting up an association for Maazouns (marriage registrars). Meanwhile, MP Yehia el-Messeiri has submitted a draft law calling for establishing a union for peasants, which would protect 40 per cent of Egypt's workforce. “Peasants have no social protection, despite their back-breaking work. They have no pensions or adequate healthcare. All that they have are the secondrate rural medical units. “Law 23/1976 led to farmers and several other categories of society having no entity to protect their rights or care for their interests. The proposed union would provide the farmers with an umbrella of social protection,” he noted. “There are now seven million handicapped people in Egypt. They have no ability to demand their rights from the Government, so an association is vital for them,” says Mahmoud Younis, head of the Pharaohs Association for the Handicapped People.
